In 2023, in the middle of a great challenge, breast cancer took one of my breasts.
But this ordeal was only the start of a journey towards a new version of me.
Many women have reconstruction. I had two clear reasons why I could not.
One: the cancer had progressed as far as the pectoral muscle.
Two: with the big challenge in May right in front of me, keeping the risk as low as possible.
Three options after breast cancer surgery
Reconstructive surgery
Difficult for me from the outset.
Using a pad
Pads shift and drop, always. The weight was wrong and it actually made my shoulders worse.
An adhesive prosthetic breast
This is the one I have had made.
Having one breast changed nothing about how I feel — but the imbalance in weight gave me terrible shoulder pain, and I judged that left as it was it would drag on the challenge I had staked my life on. I turned it over daily. And that is how I came to the process of having a prosthesis made.
The company that looked after me is in Fukuoka Prefecture.
↓ ↓
Natural Breast Co., Ltd.
There was a leaflet at the hospital; I rang them myself and had a consultation. They take a sample, fit it, and measure the balance between the two sides in fine detail.
 |
 Posts showing the ⭕ are not allowed on social media, so although the leaflet shows genuinely startling technique, this is as much as I can put up. |
As for cost: the pad I bought on Amazon was ¥5,000 at most, and the underwear company’s about ¥25,000. This one is over ¥200,000.
I hesitated a long time, then splashed out, on the grounds that it might take the stress out of every day from here.
At this stage it is still only a sample fitting, so it does not blend yet — but with what they call premium colouring, apparently they reproduce even the blood vessels.
This report only goes as far as the order, but in a month my new breast will be finished.
How it feels to wear, and how I feel about it — look out for that report.
A new breast, a journey towards a new me.I chose that title because I mean to face the new road ahead in the same forward-leaning way.
This illness record too is set down brightly, as it is, in photographs and video.
Yes — this blog is not an illness diary. It is Cancer, with a smile.
I will go on sharing what it has been like to face breast cancer and keep taking things on anyway.
However hard it got, there were moments when I found the strength to encourage myself and keep going forward. This is the start of a new me, with a new breast.
If my experience brings even a little courage or strength to other women dealing with breast cancer, that makes me glad.
The journey to a new breast and a new me has hard stretches in it, but beyond them lies new hope, and beauty.I hope this is a piece that gives someone the courage to take a step.
Thank you, from the heart.